Pending before the Court are Plaintiffs' four Motions to Accept Late-Filed Consent Forms of Additional Putative Class Members (Docket Nos. 54, 60, 62, 34 and Defendants' objections and responses. For the reasons stated herein, Plaintiffs' first Motion will be granted and Plaintiffs' second, third and fourth Motions will be denied.

I. Background

Plaintiffs' complaint before this Court alleges unfair labor practices under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA" on behalf of the named Plaintiffs and all others similarly situated. On April 16, 2014, the Court granted Plaintiffs' Unopposed Motion to Conditionally Certify the Class and Approve Court-Supervised Notice and Consent Form. (Docket No. 17). As a result of the Order, individuals who desired to participate as a plaintiff in the present lawsuit were required to opt-in by filing a "Consent to Become Party Plaintiff" form within ninety days from the date of entry of the Order. (Docket No. 13-1). The parties agree that the opt-in deadline was July 17, 2014.

On July 18, 2014, one day after expiration of the deadline, Wesley P. Zimmerman sought to join the class. (Docket No. 52). On July 22, 2014, five days after expiration of the deadline, Shirley C. Gerdes sought admission, and on September 4, 2014, forty-nine days after expiration of the deadline, Patricia Ann Brogan and Charles H. Brown sought admission to the collective action (collectively "First Group"). (Docket Nos. 53, 54). Thereafter, several more individuals filed consent forms after expiration of the opt-in deadline including four individuals on October 13, 2014 (almost three months late), one individual on November 21, 2014 (over 4 months late), and three individuals on December 18, 2014 (five months late) (collectively "Second Group.") (Docket Nos. 60, 62, 64).

Plaintiffs moved the Court to accept the late-filed consent forms of the First Group in their first Motion to Accept Late-Filed Consent Forms of Additional Putative Class Members. (Docket No. 54). Plaintiffs' second, third and fourth Motions to Accept Late Filed Consent Forms of Additional Putative Class Members concerned the Second Group. (Docket Nos. 60, 62, 34).

II. Analysis

"The FLSA provides the procedure for potential plaintiffs to opt-in to a collective action but does not specify when the potential plaintiff must opt-in." Kimbrel v. D.E.A. Corp., 2015 WL 1396898, at *2 (E.D. Tenn. March 26, 2015) (citing Ruggles v. Wellpoint, Inc., 687 F.Supp.2d 30, 37 (N.D.N.Y. 2009)). "Consequently, deadlines to opt-in are established by the trial court." Id.

Although case law is wide-ranging, courts in the Sixth Circuit have recently utilized the following factors in determining whether to include opt-in plaintiffs whose consent forms are filed after the deadline: "(1) whether good cause' exists for the late submissions; (2) prejudice to the defendant; (3) how long after the deadline passed the consent forms were filed; (4) judicial economy; and (5) the remedial purposes of the FLSA." Id. See, Hurt v. Commerce Energy, Inc., 2014 WL 494571, at *1 (N.D. Ohio Feb. 6, 2014); Heaps v. Safelite Solutions, LLC, 2011 WL 6749053, at *1 (S.D. Ohio Dec. 22, 2011).

Plaintiffs argue for admission of all late-filed consent forms on the grounds of judicial economy. Specifically, Plaintiffs argue that not allowing the late opt-in plaintiffs to participate in this action would result in one or more of them filing separate, duplicative lawsuits and then moving for consolidation of the cases. Judicial economy is served, according to Plaintiffs, by granting their motions to admit the late opt-ins, thereby avoiding the aforementioned burdensome process of duplicative litigation and eventual consolidation. The Court agrees that judicial economy weighs in favor of granting Plaintiffs' motions. See Kimbrel, 2015 WL 1396898, at *3 ("[T]he Court finds that permitting [the late op-in plaintiffs] to join the collective action will further judicial economy, because the Court will not be required to supervise and dispose of separate, but essentially identical cases.") However, judicial economy is just one factor the Court considers in determining whether to admit late opt-ins.

After weighing all the factors, the Court finds admission is warranted with regard to the First Group. As discussed above, judicial economy weighs in favor of admission. Additionally, the Court finds that Defendants are not prejudiced by allowing the First Group to opt-in because the impact of adding four more plaintiffs to a class of well over 200 individuals is relatively benign and not overly burdensome. See Hurt, 2014 WL 494571, at *1 (finding that inclusion of late-filed opt-ins which increased the size of the class by less than 5% did not overly burden or prejudice the defendants); Heaps, 2011 WL 6749053, at *2 ("Given that over 200 persons have consented to opt-in, the inclusion of these 21 plaintiffs, approximately 10% increase in the size of the potential class, will not overly burden or prejudice Defendants"); Ruggles, 687 F.Supp.2d at 37-38 (finding that the addition of 10 opt-in plaintiffs to a class of over 300 persons did not overly burden or prejudice the defendant).

Further, because the First Group's filings were delayed by less than two months, (and in the cases of Zimmerman and Gerdes, mere days), Defendants do not face unfair surprise such that they are hampered in the discovery process or must take additional steps to defend the action. See Hurt, 2014 WL 494571, at * 2 (where delay is less than a month, the defendants do not face unfair surprise, are not required to take additional steps to defend the action, and are not hampered in the discovery process); Heaps, 2011 WL 6749053, at *2 (filings delayed by a few months did not present any unfair surprise or require that the defendants take any additional steps to defend the action.) Indeed, Plaintiffs contend that at the time they filed their first Motion to Accept Late-Filed Consent Forms of Additional Putative Class Members, Defendants had not propounded any discovery to the Plaintiffs, and Defendants do not argue otherwise. As a result, Defendants are not prejudiced by adding the First Group to the collective action. See Regan v. City of Charleston, S.C., 2015 WL 1299967, at *3 (D.S.C. Mar. 23, 2015) (where parties had not yet engaged in representative discovery, the defendant was not prejudiced by a one-month delay in filing).

Permitting the First Group to join the collective action is consistent with the remedial purpose of the FLSA. As several courts have noted, "[A] generous reading, in favor of those whom congress intended to benefit from the law, is also appropriate when considering issues of time limits and deadlines." Kimbrel, 2015 WL 1396898, at *3 (citing Heaps, 2011 WL 6749053, at *2); Hurt, 2014 WL 494571, at *2.

Finally, with regard to the First Group, the Court notes that although Plaintiffs have not offered good cause for the untimeliness of the First Group's opt-in notices, admission of Plaintiffs to the class is warranted because all other factors weigh in Plaintiffs' favor. Hurt, 2014 WL 494571, at *1 (citing Ruggles, 687 F.Supp.2d at 37) (permitting late opt-in plaintiffs to join collective class even though the plaintiffs offered no good cause for their failure to timely file because all other factors ...

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